The arrangement of the dormers on the second floor is pretty eye-catching (three windows in the front dormer, four on the side), as is the corner box window on the first floor. That’ll certainly get your attention! The dining room has a squared-bay with a window seat.

The 1200-square-foot house offered three small bedrooms on the second floor (and one bath), with a spacious living room (21′ by 13′), nice size dining room (12′6″ by 14′6″), and a decent kitchen with its own walk-in pantry.

The living room and dining room were unusually spacious. That corner box window was a staircase landing with a built-in seat. Very nice!

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Upstairs were three very small bedrooms and one bath.

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When I was writing "The Sears Homes of Illinois," Rebecca Hunter gave up three days of her life to drive all over northern Illinois so that I could take photos! Rebecca drove me right to this house in West Chicago. Two years later, I'm struggling to remember if this is my photo or Rebecca's photo! Let's say it's Rebecca's. Photograph is copyright 2010 Rebecca Hunter and can not be reproduced or used without written permission.

This is my favorite Princeville in all the world. It's in Clifton Forge, Virginia (near the West Virginia border), which is one of the prettiest cities in the entire country. This Princeville is in incredibly beautiful condition. Very nice!!!

In 2008, Dale and I traveled around Roanoke, Bedford, Lynchburg and Christiansburg looking for kit homes. We only found a handful when we went to Christiansburg, but we found them all in less than 20 minutes.

Last weekend, Hubby Dear and I returned to Christiansburg, and this time, I drove the entire city and didn’t find any more than Dale and I found in 2008!

In the 1960s, our family frequently traveled from Portsmouth, VA to Douthat State Park in Clifton Forge. Ensconced by the Blue Ridge Mountains, Douthat was (and remains) one of my favorite places on earth. We’d venture into Clifton Forge to use the laundromat and to buy supplies at the local grocery store.

Even in my childhood, I’d noticed that Clifton Forge had lots of train tracks and lots of trains coming and going. (Today, there’s a delightful train museum in Clifton Forge - The C&O Railway Heritage Center - stuffed full of treasures and ephemera and photographs. It’s at 705 Main Street in the heart of the city.)

About 40 years after those fun family vacations in Douthat, I returned to Clifton Forge to look for Sears Homes. Take a look at what I found!

In all my travels, I have never seen a Model #137, until I saw it in Clifton Forge!

Landscaping prevented a better photo, but you can see one side!

From the front

The Sears Auburn is another unusual house. This is, as the catalog states, a massive house with lots of interesting details. Note the interesting brickwork on the porch, and the bracketing under the eaves.

There are many trees sitting right in front of houses in Clifton Forge. This large evergreen prevented me from taking the picture I wanted to take. Nonetheless, even from this angle, you can clearly see this is a Sears Auburn.

Another view of the Auburn

Close-up of the brickwork on the front porch.

Sears Elsmore from the 1919 catalog

Sears Elsmore on the main drag in Clifton Forge

Like Sears, Montgomery Wardd also sold kit homes. Here's a Montgomery Ward "Lexington" from the 1927 catalog.

And in the flesh - The Montgomery Ward Lexington in Clifton Forge!

Aladdin was another kit home company that, like Sears, sold kit homes through mail order. Aladdin Homes are fairly common in Virginia and I found a few in Clifton Forge. However, most of the kit homes I found in Clifton Forge were Sears Homes.

An Aladdin Sheffield in Clifton Forge

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